Federal government giving back nearly all money seized from Parma Heights man at airport

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection has agreed to give back nearly all the cash taken from a Parma Heights man who was traveling to Albania from Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport in 2017.

The revelation was made Thursday in minutes from a phone conference U.S. District Judge Dan Polster held with attorneys for customs and Rustem Kazazi, a retired Albanian police officer who is a U.S. citizen.

Kazazi, 64, was detained at the airport in October, searched and interrogated because he was traveling with a large amount of cash, according to a lawsuit he filed last week. Customs agents later said they thought the money came from some sort of criminal activity, which Kazazi fervently denies.

The minutes of the proceeding says that customs officials told the judge that "they were beginning the process of tendering a check to Petitioner Kazazi in the amount of $57,330 plus interest."

However, Kazazi and the government do not agree on how exactly how much agents seized. Kazazi claims the government took an additional $770; the government says it's giving back everything agents took.

As a result, Polster scheduled a bench trial for Dec. 10.

Kazazi moved with his family to the U.S. in 2005, according to his lawsuit. They became U.S. citizens in 2010. As he headed to Albania for a six-month stay in 2017, he converted his family's life savings into cash so it could be used for expenses while overseas.

At the airport, with the stacks of $100 bills in his bag, customs agents detained and strip-searched him and took the money. They did not give a reason for the seizure at the airport, the suit states.

Later, agents said they suspected the money was part of an operation involving smuggling, drug trafficking and money laundering and said they intended to keep the money through civil forfeiture proceedings, the suit claims.

The government did not initiate forfeiture proceedings by a deadline required by law, though, and Kazazi is suing to get his money back.

The government's civil asset forfeiture process allows authorities to seize assets when it suspects a person obtained money or property illegally. Civil liberties groups have said the process is ripe for abuse, as it allows officials to seize money from people who were never convicted or even charged with a crime.

Federal authorities seized more than $2 billion in assets from people in 2017, according to The Washington Post.

Wesley Hottot, an attorney for the Virginia-based Institute for Justice representing Kazazi, said in an email Thursday that "this case shows how civil forfeiture is inherently abusive, even when the process 'works.'"

He added that "the Kazazis will not settle for some of their money. They are entitled to every penny."

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Cleveland, which is representing customs officials, declined comment.